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The GTD describe itself as the "most comprehensive unclassified data base on terrorist events in the world" and includes over 170,000 terrorist attacks in June 2017 version.[1] The entire database (about 80 MB excel file) is available for download via the website.[3] The GTD includes more than 83,000 bombings . It also includes more than 18000 assassinations and more than 11000 kidnappings. [4] The manner of encoding of the data is described in a codebook, also available as PDF download from the website.

The GTD was formally introduced in a paper in Terrorism and Political Violence by Gary LaFree and Laura Dugan of START, published in 2007.[6] An update on the GTD by LaFree was published by Perspectives on Terrorism in 2010.[7] Another update was published in Evidence-based Counterterrorism Policy in 2012.[8] In 2017, Benjamin Acosta and Kristen Ramos published the 1993 Terrorism and Political Violence Dataset, which marks a comprehensive recollection of the previously missing 1993 data.[9]

In 2014 Pape et al. observed that, “according to the GTD data today, there were over 70 percent more suicide attacks in 2013 (619) than the previous peak in 2007 (359) during the Iraq war." Meanwhile, their Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) claims a 19 percent decrease for the same period:[14]

Pape et al. quote GTD officials as claiming that their “researchers, past and present, have ensured that the entire database uses the same standards for inclusion and is as comprehensive as possible.” Pape et al. disagree while noting that their CPOST methodology has been consistent since their first recorded incident in 1982. They conclude, “American policy makers and the public deserve the best data available on terrorism, one of the most important national security issues of our time.”[14]

^If the numbers in 2007 and 2013 are independent Poisson counts, then the GTD results show an increase of 8.3 standard deviations, while CPOST reports a 3.2 standard deviation decrease; both are statistically significant by all commonly used standards.